


Sleepless Nights

by asexualjuliet



Series: Everything Will Be Alright [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Jonathan Byers is a Damn Good big brother, Joyce Byers for mom of the year, post-episode: s01e08 The Upside Down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22625095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: “You okay?” Joyce asks, sitting down beside him.“Yeah,” Jonathan says. There’s a pause.“No,” he says, after a few seconds. “There’s—there’s something you should know.”(And God, if that doesn’t make Joyce’s heart race—)“It’s about Will,” he says, and Joyce’s chest goes tight.Or, Joyce finds out about the slugs
Relationships: Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers
Series: Everything Will Be Alright [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681507
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	Sleepless Nights

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [It Will Be Okay.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8133755) by [Genevie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genevie/pseuds/Genevie). 



> Sequel to my work “If you fall, I will catch you (I’ll be waiting).
> 
> Inspired by “It Will Be Okay.” Go read it if you haven’t already!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

Joyce can’t sleep. 

She hasn’t been able to sleep through the night since _before._

The kids seem okay. Will doesn’t wake up screaming every night anymore, and from what Joyce can tell, Jonathan’s doing alright. 

It’s her who’s kind of falling apart.

She tiptoes over the creaky floorboards into the kitchen, only to see her older son sitting at the table, staring at nothing. 

“Jonathan?” she says, and he jumps. 

“Shit, sorry,” he says, running a hand through his hair. 

“You okay?” Joyce asks, sitting down beside him. 

“Yeah,” Jonathan says. There’s a pause. 

“No,” he says, after a few seconds. “There’s—there’s something you should know.”

(And _God,_ if that doesn’t make Joyce’s heart race—)

“It’s about Will,” he says, and Joyce’s chest goes tight. There are so many goddamn things that could be wrong with her baby boy, and she doesn’t know how to fix any of them. 

“Will?” she asks, attempting to speak without fear. The quiver in her voice gives her away. 

“You know how the doctors said he was fine? That he’d—that there would be no lasting effects?” Jonathan asks, and his voice is trembling. 

“Yes,” Joyce whispers. 

“I think they were wrong.”

There’s a silence. 

“He’s—there are these slugs—at least I think they’re slugs. I mean, for all I know they’re some weird monsters from hell, but—”

“Jonathan,” Joyce pleads. 

“He’s coughing up slugs,” says Jonathan, and Joyce’s heart skips a beat. 

“What?” she asks, hoping she’s heard wrong. 

“I woke up and I heard him throwing up, and I thought he was just sick, y’know?” Jonathan asks. “Cause you know how the doctor said the Upside Down did something to his immune system?”

Joyce nods, begging tears not to fill her eyes. 

“Right, so I went in to check on him and he was coughing up these _slugs,_ mom, and he was crying about how it wasn’t the first time it had happened, and he just wanted it to stop, and—” Jonathan cuts off. 

“I’m scared,” he says quietly, and he looks younger than Joyce has seen him in a long time.

“Me too,” murmurs Joyce, putting a hand over Jonathan’s on the table. 

“I think we should take him to the lab,” Jonathan says.

 _“Jonathan,”_ says Joyce.

“Mom.”

He looks into her eyes. 

“They might be able to fix him,” he says. “They might know what’s wrong.”

Joyce shakes her head, eyes filling up with tears. 

“I’m not bringing him back there,” she says, venom in her words. 

“Mom,” he says again, eyes big and pleading. 

“I _can’t,”_ Joyce says, and Jonathan turns away from her. 

Joyce has known her son long enough to know that that means he’s crying, and an invisible needle stabs at her heart. 

“I’m sorry, baby,” Joyce says. “I just can’t.”

Jonathan’s shoulders start to shake. Joyce puts a hand on his back. 

“I’m _scared,”_ Jonathan says, turning back to his mother, brown eyes filled with fear. “Mom, I can’t lose him again!”

Jonathan’s words drive the needle even further into Joyce’s chest. She looks at her son, red eyes and tear-stained face. 

She can’t lose Will again, either. 

And she can’t lose Jonathan, whether it be to some hellish alien creature or to her own paranoia. 

So she just gathers him in her arms and holds him tight. 

“I’ll think about it,” she whispers after a few seconds, though it goes against every fiber of her being to do so. 

But she loves her boys. And she’s proven before that she’d go to the ends of the earth for either one of them. 

And she’d do it again in a heartbeat.

“He’s going to be okay,” Joyce mumbles, stroking Jonathan’s hair. “He’s strong.”

Jonathan sighs. “I know,” he says, lifting his head and meeting Joyce’s eyes. He gives a sad smile. “But I still worry.”

Joyce cups Jonathan’s face in her hands. 

“You grew up too fast,” she says, running her thumb over the tear tracks on his face. “You were supposed to be a brother, not a father.”

“It’s okay,” Jonathan says, face sincere, and it breaks Joyce’s heart. 

“Go to bed, honey,” Joyce says. “God knows we all need the sleep.

Jonathan nods. “‘Night,” he says. “Love you.”

“You too, baby,” says Joyce, and she heads back to her room. 

She doesn’t sleep. 

She sits on her bed in silence. 

She thinks for a while. 

And when sleep doesn’t come, she gets up, tiptoes over the creaky floorboards, and enters her youngest son’s room. 

He’s pale. Not as pale as he’d been even a week ago, but still too pale. The bags under his eyes are almost purple, and though she yearns to reach out and brush back his bangs, hold his hand, to just make sure he’s real, she restrains herself. He needs the sleep. 

“I love you,” Joyce says, sitting down on the armchair by his bedside. “God, baby, I love you so much. And I will fight until my last breath to protect you and your brother.” 

She sighs. 

“We’re going back to the lab,” she says softly, ignoring the way those words make her heart race. “We’re gonna find out what’s wrong and we’re gonna fix it.”

Joyce wipes at her watery eyes. “It’s gonna be okay,” she says, more to convince herself than anything else. 

“Mom,” says a soft voice from the doorway, and Joyce looks up. 

Jonathan walks into the room and sits next to Joyce on her chair, reaching for her hand and holding it tight. 

They stay like that for a while. 

The night is silent, save for Will’s ragged breathing and the sound of the radiator by the window.

The older boy and his mother drift off to sleep. 

And things are okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please let me know if you see any!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!


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